Volunteers continuing to arrive in Machynlleth from across Wales. Mattthew Parsons, 29, and friends have travelled from Cardiff to lend a helping hand. No doubt summing up the thoughts of many, he says: “We have got kids so it’s quite simple. We want to do anything we can to help."

by Steffan Rhys10/3/2012 1:31:12 PM

Missing People chief executive Martin Houghton-Brown: “When a child goes missing the whole world should stop to search, and it is heartening to see a community of people – in Machynlleth and on social media – joining the search for April."

by Steffan Rhys10/3/2012 1:47:17 PM

Teams of volunteers have been enlisted once again by police as the search for April Jones continues this afternoon.Earlier today police told members of the public who had given of their time to look for the missing five-year-old to stay at home because of deteriorating conditions.But this lunchtime three teams of volunteers were again dispatched from the leisure centre in April’s hometown of Machynlleth.

“Firstly can I thank you for your assistance to date and I just want to outline that I intend to give you a brief update on progress to date and then my colleague Ian will outline to you in detail the scale of the search operation.

“So to return to progress since the earlier appeal when we released the details of Mark Bridger’s car – a Landrover Discovery, to remind you which is blue in colour and registration number is L503 MEP. Other enquiries that are on-going include establishing his movements between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon and that of his vehicle. Whilst this is clearly a significant line of enquiry, I must emphasise that there are many other leads that we are actively pursuing in an effort to find April.

“For example since our earlier appeal there have been over 400 messages received from the public which is less than a quarter of all the messages we have received so far, and we are actively working through all the information to prioritise our enquiries.

“We have over 20 scenes that we are focussing specific activity at, we have searched several of these within the Machynllleth area and those searches are continuing.

“I would now like to hand you over to Superintendent Ian John.”

by Peter.Law10/3/2012 5:28:54 PM

Statement by Superintendent Ian John:

“The search operation continues to grow. We have officers deployed from throughout the country there are;

 100 Mountain Rescue – voluntary, highly skilled, and well motivated. The co-ordination between their team leaders and the police Search advisors is strong.  In addition a 100 trained, accredited Police search officers  20 dog handlers  The RNLI who have 2 vessels searching the river  The Dyfed Powys Police Marine Unit  A team of kayakers

We have support from 3 recognised UK experts in search management from the Police National Search Centre and the Crime Operational Support Unit. These people are supporting the police search advisors. We have access to a variety of technical equipment from throughout the UK.

I wanted to emphasise that Dyfed Powys Police is receiving unprecedented support and this is a National response to what I am told is a search that is on a scale that the officers from the Crime Operational Support Unit have not seen before in this country. I would particularly like to thank neighbouring forces in North Wales, South Wales, and Gwent, as well as our neighbouring English forces for their assistance. We have also had assistance from Her Majesty’s Coastguard.

As my colleague explained there are a large number of sites. They are very varied and require a considerable amount of planning to ensure that we achieve the most effective outcome. Intelligence is developing fast and this helps to drive the search priorities which are constantly under review.

The geography is very challenging and everyone is working in a hostile environment, by that I mean the terrain if difficult, waterlogged, working near to flooded rivers with the potential for mine shafts and unstable ground. There is a variety of building sand open area searches which require flexibility and systematic method to the operation.

The number of officers we have deployed will increase, particularly the use of specialist officers from around the UK. This is a growing operation and in no way are we scaling back this search. We remain completely focussed on finding April.

Anyone with any information please contact 0300 2000 333

by Peter.Law10/3/2012 5:29:15 PM

Just driven back to Machynlleth in an almost biblical rainstorm. Not what the search teams looking for April Jones need or want

April’s godmother, Mair Raftree, has revealed April has a mild form of cerebral palsy and also suffers from irritable bowel syndrome – which has led to the youngster spending time in hospital and requires daily medication.Miss Raftree, a childminder from Aberystwyth, said: “This is the third day April is away from her home and she is only little. She needs medication for her health problems and without it she will be in pain.“She has been in hospital a few times for her condition and with the cerebral palsy her legs just give way. I am so scared for her and I desperately want her home.”

by Peter.Law10/3/2012 7:39:14 PM

Police statement: "Following a discussion with all the major media outlets in Aberystwyth this evening it was agreed that the next media briefing/statement will take place not before 11am tomorrow morning. "Obviously this will be reviewed if there are any significant developments overnight."

by Peter.Law10/3/2012 7:40:05 PM

Chat w/volunteer coordinator at Mach. Leisure Centre: "It is tiring but we are still looking for April Jones.That's keeping everybody going"

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WalesOnline, the best source for Welsh news, sport, business and lifestyle and entertainment. Powered by the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and Celtic Weekly Newspapers. Produced by Media Wales Ltd.